


Two Bros and a Human

by Spectascopes



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Family, Fluff, Gen, Maybe a little hurt/comfort, Minor Injuries, Mute Frisk, Supportive Fell Bros, Underfell
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-09-10 22:24:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8941759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spectascopes/pseuds/Spectascopes
Summary: Underfell Papyrus finds a tiny, injured human. Shameless fluff ensues.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i have no excuse for this lol i just want to write fluff okay sue me
> 
> 100% inspired by all of [Stuffedart's](stuffedart.tumblr.com) wonderful underfell fluff
> 
>  
> 
> [Tumblr Link](http://theperfecta.tumblr.com/post/154770336469/two-bros-and-their-human-chapter-1)

Papyrus made his daily rounds a little more groggy than usual. He yawned as he trudged through the Snowdin slush, boots kicking up snow as he went. He hadn’t slept so well last night- Sans had a particularly bad nightmare and he had to stay with him until he’d gone back to sleep. It wasn’t so bad, though. He was only on duty for a few hours, then he could go home and clean or even nap if he was feeling particularly mischievous. 

It wasn’t often that he patrolled out past his masterfully crafted barbed wire fence, because the likelihood of anybody passing through it was slim to none, but he knew he’d fall asleep if he sat at his station, so he went. He slipped easily through the hole he’d left for himself, wondering briefly if anybody else could do so, but pushing it aside. Of course not! Nobody could get past his bridge barricade, except for him, because it was so masterfully crafted.

The Ruins were always very quiet. With the door so tightly shut, nobody ever came in or out, so it was an uneventful place. Papyrus was up to the top of his boots in snow from the untrodden path. He kicked some of it into the air, allowing himself a brief moment of silliness, before he heard something coming from beyond the door.

He dove behind a tree, cursing his enormous spiky shoulder pads and the way they undoubtedly protruded from his hiding place, and he waited. He’d heard stories of the truly fearsome monster that lived inside. He conjured a long bone staff-looking thing and held it tightly in his claws. If it was a battle the monster wanted, a battle it would have!

He peeked out from behind the tree, prepared to see a dragon or a massive bear monster exiting the door, but instead he saw… a human.

It was a small human. He gaped as it walked forward into the snow, hugging itself tightly. He didn’t know much about humans, but this one looked exceptionally tiny! It also appeared to be limping a bit. He’d read they were taller than Sans (though that wasn’t saying much) but this one was definitely shorter. He stayed behind his tree, peeking out only to see the human slowly making its way along the path. The snow was up past the little things knees- and it was wearing shorts! Papyrus tsk’d to himself as the creature dragged itself along, limping and hissing a little when they put weight on their left ankle.

Humans were gold mines in the underground. As a newly-made member of the Royal Guard, Papyrus had no need to capture one just to turn over to Undyne, but people would pay high prices for a human. Especially King Asgore. It was a popular rumor that Asgore had six souls already- so this, the seventh one, would free the monsters from their underground prison! Papyrus suppressed an excited shiver. He’d be famous if he captured this one! He might even be promoted within the guard- 

His thoughts were cut off as the human lost their balance and face-planted into the snow. He covered his hand with his mouth to stop from laughing at the human. Their blue and purple striped shirt was covered in bits of snow- ah! Stripes! It was a baby bones.

He watched it for a few more minutes. It continued to trip and fall with little huffs and sharp exhales of breath. Papyrus was amused. Why did it leave the Ruins if it was so ill-suited for the snow? He did notice a few patches of its clothes that looked charred. The fearsome fire monster he’d heard legends of must have gotten to the human. 

After five minutes of watching, Papyrus got tired. The human fell again, and as they were pushing themself back to their feet, he stepped out from his tree, bone still in hand, and approached the human. It really was small… he noticed that their arms and legs were adorned with different scrapes and cuts. As it lifted its head he saw a cut on their cheek. They almost didn’t notice him at first, their face twisted in pain, but they did a double take and their eyes widened as they saw Papyrus standing in front of them.

“Human! I am the great and terrible Papyrus, and I have come to capture you!” he said, puffing his chest out and holding the bone-club tighter. “Resistance is futile- do not attempt to escape.”

The human- who had already been shivering but was now doing so with a great intensity- scrabbled backwards and away from him. They were afraid! It wasn’t the reaction Papyrus was used to, but he wouldn’t complain.

“You seem very smart, human! Hopefully you are smart enough to traverse the deadly and dangerous puzzles I’ve constructed for you ahead- oh…” Papyrus looked down and saw their ankle, which looked twisted to some degree, and he frowned. “Ah. Perhaps not. Are you injured?”

The human seemed frozen. He frowned and pointed his bone club at them. “Do not ignore a direct-” he stopped when the little human recoiled and put their hands in front of their face with a desperate huff. 

Oh, he was no good at this. The human quivered in the snow, their hurt ankle drawn up closer to them, still looking as though ready to be hit. Papyrus sighed loudly and dropped down to his knee so he could be on more level ground with the human.

“Don’t be rude, human! I’m just trying to speak to you. What’s your name?” 

Small human peeked through their shaking fingers at him for a moment before they hesitantly brought their hands down and seemed to really take Papyrus in. They gulped and signed something with quick and jagged movements.

It was Papyrus’s turn to be nervous. He didn’t know sign language. The human must have realized this as well, because they signed it again but slower. Papyrus just blinked at them.

“A-Ah… yes. Your name is… human…”

The little human smiled and covered their mouth with their hand to suppress their raspy little giggles. Papyrus wanted to be angry at them for laughing, like any other monster would, but oh goodness they were cute. He suppressed a little smile himself and huffed.

“Well this won’t do. I don’t know how to sign, and I can’t properly capture you if you can’t speak… not to mention your injury.” Papyrus gestured to their ankle. He let out a big huff and pushed himself to his feet. “My brother knows how to sign- I suppose I’ll have to take you home and patch you up before you go about completing my puzzles. Does that sound like a compromise, tiny human?”

The human, fears put as ease, nodded up at him. They went to stand, only to fall again with a pained little squeak. Small blots of blood stained their sock- Papyrus felt a pang of sympathy for the little thing and bent down to scoop them up into his arms. They seemed surprised, but none too opposed.

“Goodness, you’re very cold!” Papyrus said, making quick work of unwrapping his scarf from his neck and bundling the human up in it. “I don’t think anybody would be impressed if I captured a  _ frozen _ human,” he said to himself. The child laughed gently before burrowing into their scarf-burrito, looking ten times more comfortable as they’d been when he’d first seen them. 

Papyrus was careful not to jostle their ankle on his way home. Goodness, what would Sans think of his new charge?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more fluff for the soul
> 
> sans will be here next chapter- this story honestly isn't gonna have much of a plot, i just want to write some shamelessly fluffy shit

As it so happened, Sans wasn’t home. Papyrus was usually happy about that- it meant the lazybones was actually working some of his many jobs- but today he just huffed and shut the door behind him and took the human over to the couch.

“Just like him to be absent when I’ve need of him,” Papyrus said to himself. The human watched him with big eyes, their previous fear forgotten as he sat them on the couch and went to the kitchen.

“No matter! I’m nothing if not capable, even without my lazybones of a brother.” He returned a few moments later with the first aid kit and knelt down in front of the human. “Let’s get you patched up.”

The human was hesitant, but they nodded. Papyrus shied away from their ankle- he hoped it wasn’t broken- and took care of the more serious looking cuts on their legs and the one on their cheek.

“You humans are so strange, what with your bleeding and all,” Papyrus remarked quietly to himself as he wiped away the dried red liquid from the wounds. The human flinched and hissed and Papyrus drew away immediately.

“Have I hurt you?”

They shook their head and stuck their leg out again. Papyrus gave them a weary eye but went back to work.

It took a good ten minutes to get all of their injuries attended to. None of them were serious aside from the ankle. Papyrus nervously clacked his teeth together as he looked at the sodden shoe and the sock that was obstructing his care.

“This might hurt a little, human,” he said. “I’ve got to take your shoe off to look at your ankle.”

The human nodded. Papyrus reached up and gave their head a reassuring pat, smoothing some of their messy brown hair in the process. 

It wasn’t a pleasant business, and it took time, but eventually the skeleton wiggled the shoe off of the human without causing too much pain. The sock was presenting just as much of a problem.

The child tapped his shoulder. He looked up and they made a scissor motion with their hands.

“Ah! A great idea, human,” he said as he sprang to his feet and hurried back to the kitchen. 

One cut up sock later, Papyrus was left staring at their bare ankle. The little speckles of blood had been from a burn there- one that looked like it was beginning to scab, but because of their movement had been opened up again. The ankle itself didn’t seem too bad… hopefully just a twist… but he had no way of knowing. He gently wiped away the blood, cleaned the wound the best he could, and bandaged it, but he’d have to wait for Sans. 

The human sat through it all with great patience. They would sniffle, but they didn’t seem to be crying. They kept wiping their nose, too. 

“Well… my brother should be able to help with the ankle,” he said. The human nodded up at him. They still looked cold- and their clothes were still wet from the snow! Papyrus stood before the human for a moment in thought.

“In the meantime, how about a warm bath? You still look a little frosty- I’m sure some of my brother’s old clothes would fit you.

The human looked up at him for a moment, seemingly in thought, before they nodded and reached out one of their hands for Papyrus’s. Papyrus felt his soul give a little thump- goodness they were cute. He reached forward and hefted them into his arms. They huffed in surprise before snuggling into his chestplate.

The bathroom was in a constant state of disuse- it had came with the home, but aside from the shower neither of the brothers had much of a use for it. Papyrus stepped inside and flicked on the light before setting Frisk down carefully on the edge of the bathtub. He fiddled with the knobs for a moment and waited for the hot water to start before he stood back with his hands on his hips. The human looked up at him.

“There you are!” he said, placing a dry, fluffy towel down  on the counter nearby. “If you need anything just… uhm…” he looked at the human for a moment. They couldn’t really shout… or make much noise at all…

The child gave him a little smile before tapping gently on the wall and quirking their brows.

“Ah! Yes, just do that if you need me. Perhaps a little louder, though, your knocks are very tiny.”

The human grinned and gave him a thumbs up. Papyrus puffed his chest out, proud of his work and how well he was looking after the human, before he turned and left.

“I’ll find some clean clothes for you in the meantime!” he called as he pulled the door shut. He went to the window and looked, but still no Sans. 

He made quick work of going to Sans’s room and getting into his closet. He scrunched his face at the old socks that were piled nearby, making a note to help Sans clean his room sometime soon. His big spikes started to become a hassle as they bumped into the various stacks of garbage Sans had accumulated in his closet, so he huffed and unclipped his armor, throwing it to the side. He didn’t look nearly as villainous and intimidating in just a tank top, but he supposed it was necessary.

He pulled out some of Sans’s old clothes from when he was younger- for the first time he was glad that Sans kept most of his useless junk around. They still looked a few sizes too big for the human, but he supposed they would do until he could wash the human’s clothes or find better fitting ones. 

Papyrus picked up the old clothes, shaking them free of dust in the process, and went to his bedroom to find the human some clean socks. He threw his battle body in the corner, reminding himself to polish it later, before rooting through his drawers for the necessary items. When he looked up, he saw his poster of Mettaton and smiled. That robot was the face of the underground- popular, dark, intimidating- nobody messed with Mettaton! Papyrus took a seat on his bed and clacked his fangs together.

He sat back with a huff. Maybe he shouldn’t be doing so much for the human- it was a human after all. Anybody like Mettaton would have turned them over to the King or asserted their dominance by now. Papyrus wasn’t stupid- he knew that any human that was unlucky enough to fall underground would ultimately end up dead. But this one was so nice and polite! He couldn’t let it go, not being all wet and hurt like it was. He was simply… giving it a place to warm up, that was it. He could turn it over to the King later. 

Papyrus pushed away his doubts and went downstairs, pressing his skull briefly to the bathroom door to make sure the human wasn’t in need of anything. When it all came up clear, he set the clean clothes on the kitchen table and went to see what he could make for dinner. Surely the human was hungry, wasn’t it? And Sans would be hungry when he got home, too. Dinner would be a good way to preoccupy his guilty conscience until Sans got home. 

He checked the fridge and the cupboards and found he had the means to make lasagna- he hadn’t made it in god knew how long, because of that mangy little mutt, but he supposed it was a special occasion. Sans liked lasagna- no point in letting a perfectly good meal go uncooked because of some troublesome dog!

Papyrus was halfway through layering his masterful creation when he heard three loud knocks coming from the bathroom. He jumped, forgetting for a second that it was the signal from the human, before he hurriedly washed off his hands and went to grab the clothes.

“Human? Is everything alright?” 

There was no response. Papyrus groaned and slapped himself- they couldn’t talk!

“Knock once if everything is alright.”

A single knock.

“Knock twice if I can come in.”

Two knocks.

Papyrus huffed and eased the door open. The human, hair still wet and clinging to their head, was wrapped up in the big fluffy towel. They smiled up at him as he made his way to the counter and sat the clothes down.

“Here you are- these are some of my brother’s old clothes. They might be a little big on you.”

The child shook their head and gave him a thumbs up. He nodded, unnerved to find himself smiling back at the human, before he turned tailbone and went back to his lasagna.

Oh, he was getting himself into trouble with this. He was going to get attached to the human- he was  _ already _ getting attached to the human, they were like a little fluffy rescue kitten. Papyrus huffed and resumed layering his lasagna. Maybe he wasn’t cut out for the whole “monster” thing. Even Sans could be mean when he needed to be! Papyrus was a big softie and he wouldn’t try to lie to himself. But surely there was a reason to keep the human around! 

He felt something poke his lower spine and he shouted, whirling around with a conjured bone already tight in his hands to find-

The human stared up at him. 

“H-Human! You scared me to my second death!”

They frowned and looked down at their feet and Papyrus felt bad.

“It’s alright- quite alright, actually! You want to watch me prepare my pasta, correct?”

They nodded, still looking put-out, and Papyrus immediately bent down and scooped them up and plopped them down on the counter. Sans’s clothes were a little big, but they seemed to fit alright. The human wasn’t nearly as round as Papyrus’s brother, but once dinner was done and eaten he would wash the clothes the child had been wearing.

“It can’t be helped- I’m what one might call a master chef, so I don’t blame you for being devoutly interested in my cooking.” 

The human nodded again and looked down at the lasagna that was half-made. They pointed to it and looked up at the skeleton with a shrugging, questioning motion. Papyrus felt bad- it must have been frustrating to communicate like this.

“I figured, since it’s a bit of a special occasion, that I would make my world famous lasagna.” When the human quirked their eyebrow, Papyrus puffed out his chest. “Of course, I know the whole world hasn’t tasted it yet- but- if they could, I’m sure they would all love it!” 

The child, whose name was still a mystery to the skeleton, giggled. 

“Oh- you know, if you laugh at my cooking I’m afraid I can’t give you any,” he said. 

He’d meant it to sound like a joke. But apparently his tone didn’t come off that way- the human shut their mouth immediately and looked down at their legs, nodding obediently.

Papyrus frowned. “I’m just joking, human… I know I’m good at a casual jape but I didn’t think I would be  _ that _ convincing- of course you can have some of the lasagna! Then it’ll be one person closer to world famous.”

The human nodded again, but they didn’t raise their head. Papyrus frowned but continued making his lasagna, allowing a bit of calm silence to fall over them. The human watched him, reaching over at times to adjust a noodle to better cover the previous layer. He gave them a smile when the process was complete but refrained from giving their little head an affectionate rub because of the cheese on his fingers.

“And now we just have to bake it! It takes an hour- would you like to watch a show in the meantime?”

The human nodded and gave him a tiny smile.

A few minutes later, with the lasagna sitting toasty in the oven, Papyrus and the human were sitting on the couch. Papyrus wasn’t sure of human customs, but the little thing seemed keen on staying close. He didn’t much protest- they curled up with their head on his leg and he gave them a gentle pat. 

They were asleep within fifteen minutes.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow its been like a month, time sure flies when you have no concept of it lmfao
> 
> anyways! those of you who follow me on tumblr know i'm not going to be writing anymore fanfiction (or, if i do, it won't be a lot and i can't promise frequent updates) but the wonderful [stuffedart](stuffedart.tumblr.com) donated some money to keep this one going, so i'll be doing just that!

 

The human was woken up by the loud ding of the oven. Their head shot up and they looked around as though trying to remember where they were. Papyrus put a hand on their head and they whipped around to look at him.

Their eyes seemed to lose their panic when they caught sight of the tall skeleton. Papyrus gave them his best smile.

“Did you enjoy your boney nap?” Papyrus asked. The human yawned and rubbed the sleep from their eyes, but nodded.

“Just like my brother… always taking naps… I suppose you’ll want one tonight, too? A classic eight hour night-time rest.”

The human smiled and nodded.

The nap had been great for Papyrus as well, though he wouldn’t admit it. He’d texted his brother and had found out that the lazy bones had fallen asleep at his hotland hotdog stand. He blamed it on the warmth- Papyrus knew it was because of last night’s bad dreams.

The human stood up softly, keeping any pressure off of their injured foot. Papyrus went with them. He squeaked as he felt the human’s little hand wrap around his and went to pull away, but one quick look down into the human’s hopeful face made him lower his hand even more for easier access. To help them support their weight, of course! Not because it was cute and he liked holding hands.

The lasagna came out looking pretty good. The human seemed to think so too, eyes lighting up and nose in the air as they sniffed it. Papyrus puffed up at the indirect praise.

“A success, by the smell of it. Every meal is a work of art, and this is one of my finest masterpieces.”

The human nodded happily, brushing a piece of brown hair from their face. Papyrus grabbed a couple of plates and went about getting a knife and cutting out a reasonably large piece for the human, who was just about salivating. When had the little thing eaten last? Surely the fire-beast in the Ruins has fed them, or they’d been able to scrounge something up… then again, by the way they happily dug into the still-steaming pasta, he had his doubts.

Papyrus sat down with a smaller piece for himself, but he was more interested in watching the human devour theirs. They certainly weren’t a very _clean_ human. Sans would probably get along with them just fine.

They were sitting at the table, using their tongue to lick some sauce from the side of their mouth, when the jingle of keys came from the front door. The human blinked and looked up at Papyrus, who was already standing to go greet his brother.

“No worries, it’s just Sans,” he said with his best reassuring smile. The human still looked nervous, though, which was sort of funny- once anybody met Sans, they would know how not-intimidating he was. Or, at least, how non-intimidating he _looked_.

Papyrus stood between the door and his new friend while Sans pushed it open and sauntered through. He caught sight of his brother and grinned as he kicked the snow from his feet and took off his big fluffy coat.

He was just as big, round, and lazy as ever. Sans never changed.

“So- where’s this human you found, bro?” he asked, using one of his wet feet to try and kick the shoe off of the other wet foot. He was teasing, so Papyrus just crossed his arms and watched as he struggled to remove his wet sneaker. Eventually he had to lean down and do it with his hands while he grumbled about hating Snowdin, which made Papyrus smirk.

“There’s no need to be a spoil sport, brother. Humans aren’t _that_ rare, are they?”

Sans huffed as he righted himself and grinned. “There hasn’t been a human down here since before you were born, bro. I’m not sayin’ I don’t believe you, but… I…”

Sans trailed off as Papyrus stepped to the side and revealed his friend sitting at the table, nervously shuffling their feet. The older skeleton’s mouth fell open for a moment before he shut it with a _clack_.

“Huh. Welp. There it is.”

Papyrus grinned, barely keeping his feet on the floor as he skipped over to the human and ruffled their hair.

“I told you they were real! They’re my new human frrr…” Papyrus trailed off. Maybe ‘friend’ was overstepping their relationship. “My new human acquaintance!”

Sans seemed a little weary, taking no more than a step from the door. He stared the human down for a moment. His big, black sockets were narrowed in suspicion.

Meanwhile, the human reached out and grabbed Papyrus’s hand, scooting closer to him.

“Uh huh… you’re sure they aren’t dangerous, Pap? Humans can be, uh… a little bad sometimes-”

“Of course they aren’t dangerous! Look at them, brother- I found them by the Ruins, they were alone and cold and very frightened.”

Sans didn’t look convinced. The human was shaking again. They buried their head against Papyrus’s leg to escape Sans’s scrutinizing stare. Papyrus put his hand on their back for reassurance.

“Brother, you’re scaring them!” he scolded. Sans inched forward across the room until he was right in front of the human and his brother.

For a moment, the human peeked out at him. Then their head was back against Papyrus’s pants and their hands were up and signing something.

Whatever they said, it made Sans take a step back and hold up his hands.

“Woah, kid, I’m… I’m not gonna hurt ya.”

Papyrus held the human tighter and gave his brother a sour look. “Sans!”

Sans took another step back, sweat beading on his skull, hands still up in a passive gesture. His near-permanent grin faltered as he looked down at the human.

They let out a raspy little sob, and Papyrus had them scooped up and against his chest immediately, shooting daggers at his brother. How could they be scared of somebody so round and... Soft-looking? The human curled tight against him and hugged his neck.

“Sans, you ruffian, you’re making them upset.” Papyrus adjusted the human better in his arms. “How can you manage to make children cry when you look like a big red marshmallow?”

Sans snorted, but he still looked a little worried. He got closer and Papyrus had half a mind to move away, for the human’s sake, but he just quietly raised a hand and put it on the child’s shoulder.

“Hey, kiddo, I’m sorry for spookin’ ya. It’s just… well, some of the other humans that have fallen down here weren’t very nice. I didn’t want my lil bro gettin’ hurt, that’s all,” he said, gruff voice lowered to be at least somewhat comforting. He kept his boney hand on them for a moment before withdrawing a few steps.

The human didn’t do anything for a moment. Papyrus shifted them a little.

“It’s alright, human, I know my brother can be a little mean sometimes.” Papyrus ignored the pointed stare that was directed at him. “Like, for example, he never lets me renovate the house to be taller. He also doesn’t let me stay out after midnight. Or watch movies with Undyne that have big, busty anime-”

“Alright, let’s not talk about the anime ladies,” Sans said, getting a little red in the face.

“Point is, he means well! So I’m gonna put you down now and we’re all going to enjoy my fantastic lasagna, alright?”

The human seemed hesitant, but they sniffled and nodded.

Papyrus settled them in their chair while Sans moved to the other side of the table and took a seat. Papyrus reached over and grabbed his food, sliding it over so he could sit beside the human and, with luck, provide a little comfort to the distraught child.

He had his fork raised to eat a bite of lasagna when he promptly slammed it back down.

“Human! We never learned your name!”

 

The human, Frisk, was still weary of Sans throughout dinner. Their weariness was greatly deterred by their obvious fatigue, though. After they’d stuffed themself on lasagna it seemed like they weren’t keen on doing much else. Papyrus would have liked their ankle to be looked at, but they were still very much frightened of Sans and the taller skeleton didn’t want to press them into doing something they didn’t want to do.

As soon as they were laying horizontally they were out like a light. Papyrus covered them up with a blanket and ruffled their hair. They were so small.

“C’mon, Pap. We should talk,” Sans said quietly from behind him. Papyrus sighed but turned anyways, following his brother up the stairs. He cast one last glance over his shoulder at the sleeping human, who had pulled the blanket up around their face so that only their nose and eyes were visible.

Sans led Papyrus into his own bedroom and shut the door behind the two of them. He had his hands shoved in his pockets, an unfamiliar frown on his face.

“We can’t keep em, Pap,” Sans said. He huffed and plopped himself down on Papyrus’s mattress. “You know how much trouble humans are.”

“But this one is so nice, brother!” Papyrus protested at once. He put his hands on his hips and stood over Sans. “And they can’t speak! And their ankle is hurt, and they’re so young, and-”

Sans groaned.

“Sans, _please_ , they won’t hurt anybody!”

“I know they aren’t gonna hurt anybody, that’s the problem,” Sans said with another long groan. “They’re a human- if it wasn’t for bein here with us, they’d be dead by now. Humans don’t belong underground, Pap, they might be strong but they’re too… eh… _morally soft._ ”

“Then we have to help them! They can’t get back to the surface, they’re all alone, and they like me-”

“Pap-” Sans tried, but Papyrus waved him away.

“They’re just a child, brother!” Papyrus said, his volume increasing without his knowledge. “You kept me even though I was just a runt! And look at us now, we’re the strongest monsters in Snowdin!”

“You’re my _brother_ , Pap, not some random little human that decided to take a walk through murder cave,” Sans argued, but he knew it was a losing battle.

“But they’ll get stronger! I’ll train them, brother, we’ll shape them into a fighting machine the likes of which nobody has ever seen!” Papyrus flexed his arm as much as somebody without muscles could. “Nobody in the whole underground will mess with us! Undyne will give me a promotion, the King will legalize your hot dog stand, Alphys will-”

Sans heaved himself to his feet and slapped his hand over Papyrus’s fangs.

“Fine. The kid can stay for now- but _you’re_ in charge of the squirt, ya hear?” Sans took his hand away when Papyrus, giving into his childish whims, conjured a tongue to lick it. The shorter skeleton made a face at his brother before flopping himself back onto the bed. “Don’t expect me to be a babysitter,” he grumbled with his face pressed into the comforter.

Papyrus clapped his hands together. “Thank you, brother! I’ll raise them to be fearsome and powerful, just like me!”

Sans huffed. He didn’t like change.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shorter chapter, everybody enjoys a nice breakfast

Papyrus was busy scrambling some eggs when he felt a tiny hand touch his thigh. He jumped a little, but quickly remembered the human and looked down to see Frisk, disheveled and sleepy, looking up at him while they rubbed the sleep from their eyes.

“Oh! Good morning, human. Did the tantalizing smell of my cooking wake you?”

Frisk smiled, but it quickly turned into a yawn. 

“Go on and have a seat at the table- these eggs are just about adequately scrambled,” Papyrus said, turning back to his food. Now aware of it, he heard the little staggered noises of Frisk’s feet on the linoleum.

The toast popped out of the toaster and Papyrus jumped, like he always did. He heard the human snicker behind him but he just puffed his chest up and ignored it- Sans agreed that the toaster was a very scary and very serious threat. Papyrus nearly charred his bones trying to get the slices out.

He shot Frisk a look, just like he’d shoot to his brother, except instead of grinning back they put their head down and went quiet. That wouldn’t do at all, Papyrus thought sadly.

“Here you go, my tiny human fr- acquaintance,” he corrected, setting the plate down in front of the human. Hands free, he went to the fridge and picked up the ketchup and set it down beside his guest.

Frisk looked up at him with a disgusted face.

“I know! But Sans likes ketchup on his eggs, I thought I would offer,” he said quickly, replacing the bottle where it had came from.

Frisk signed something. Papyrus cocked his head while he cleaned up the breakfast mess and Frisk seemed to remember he didn’t know sign language.

They pointed upstairs and then made a circle with their hands.

“Oh! Sans!” Papyrus said, nearly dropping the pan he was scrubbing. “Oh no, he never eats when he first wakes up, he says it upsets his stomach,” Papyrus smiled idly down at the soapy sink. “He’ll probably stumble down here in a few minutes and collapse at the table and say ‘mornin’ bro, didja make me some coffee?’ because that’s what he always says,” Papyrus explained, using his best impersonation of his brother. Frisk breathily giggled at him.

They nodded before picking up their fork and digging into their breakfast. Papyrus watched for a moment, delighted he would finally have somebody to cook for in the mornings, before making his way over and starting Sans’s coffee. 

“Brother works a morning shift at his sentry duty today, otherwise he wouldn’t be awake until noon at the earliest,” Papyrus elaborated, putting the filter in and measuring out the grounds. “It’s my day off, and I cancelled my training with Undyne so I could get you better acquainted with the household.”

He turned to fill the pot with water when he saw the human with a question written all over their face.

“Oh! Undyne, yes, she’s my friend! Well… more like my mentor. She’s the captain of the Royal Guard, probably the toughest monster in the underground aside from the King. She let Sans and I join the Guard at it’s lowest ranks, but she still trains me so someday I can advance.” Papyrus paused before he turned the coffee machine on. “Well, no worries, you won’t be meeting her anytime soon. She has a, ah… how to put it… a very strong aversion to humans,” Papyrus explained, finally walking over and taking a seat beside the human.

Frisk nodded with a bit of egg hanging out of their mouth. Papyrus noted how messy their hair looked. Hopefully Sans still had that comb he bought as a gag.

Almost on cue, heavy footsteps were heard going down the stairs, and Sans grumbled his way into the kitchen and flopped down into one of the chairs with what looked like enough force to break it. He looked at the human for a second before he yawned and leaned his head back.

“Ugh… mornin’ bro. Didja make me some coffee?”

Frisk turned to the taller skeleton with a twinkle in their eye. Papyrus grinned and patted their head before he stood again.

“Good morning, brother,” Papyrus said. He returned a moment later with a travel mug full of coffee, setting it down in front of the sleepy skeleton. “You don’t quite look like monsterkind’s first line of defense. You look more like a big sleepy beanbag,” Papyrus said. 

Sans snorted but accepted the mug, chugging what looked to be half of it in one go. He wiped his mouth and rubbed at his eyes.

“Eh, didn’t sleep too well last night. Ya know how it is.”

“Nightmares?” Papyrus asked. 

Sans shrugged, but his silence was enough. Papyrus sighed but said nothing more, instead turning to the human, who watched their exchange in quiet fascination. Sans eventually looked at them and groaned.

“Pap, you know you’re gonna have to learn sign language if the kid stays.”

Papyrus blinked. He honestly hadn’t even thought of it.

“I’ve got some books in my closet, from when I first learned it,” Sans went on between gulps of coffee. “And ‘m sure the library has some.”

“Of course! I’m sure it will be much easier since Frisk will be here to help.” Papyrus put his hand on their head and puffed out his chest. “No worries, human! Soon we will be able to communicate with ease. In the meantime… uh…”

Frisk held their hand up in front of their face and made a motion like they were drawing on it.

“Ah, yes! You can draw your thoughts-”

“Or they could just write them,” Sans said with a brow bone raised.

Papyrus blushed but tried to hide it by puffing his chest out even more. His ribs were going to fly straight off of his body is he kept it up. “Y-Yes! That would work, too! Very resourceful, brother,” he said with a cough.

Sans had a mischievous smile on his face, but he seemed too tired to tease his younger brother for his little goof. He just sipped at his coffee while Frisk smiled. The human turned to Sans and signed something.

“Eh, it’s better with stuff in it, but black is more concentrated.”

Frisk signed something else, making a face.

Sans laughed a little. “Yeah, it’s bitter as hell. Just like me.”

“Sans!” Papyrus scolded, reaching over and slapping his brother’s shoulder. “You shouldn’t swear in front of the child.”

Frisk signed something.

“The kid says they’re eleven, Pap,” Sans translated.

“Eleven is too young to be swearing!”

Frisk pouted but signed something else. Sans blinked for a moment before he brought his cup down.

“Frisk wants to know how old you are, Pap,” Sans said.

“Oh! I’m nineteen,” Papyrus said with a grin. “And Mr. Lazybones is twenty five.”

Frisk nodded. The little human was already looking wide-eyed and awake, which was quite the shock when it took Sans hours to fully wake up. Papyrus grabbed their finished plate and took it to the sink.

Papyrus wouldn’t lie, he didn’t like not being able to understand what Frisk was saying. He clacked his teeth together for a moment, idling by the sink, before he hurried back to the table with the coffee pot in hand and topped off Sans’s drink.

“Alright then, human! I’ll start learning to sign at once, and you will be my teacher!” Papyrus announced with a flourish. “That way I can be sure you don’t say anything inappropriate. You don’t want to take after Sans, you know.”

The skeleton took another drink of his coffee. “C’mon, Pap, that’s a little harsh. Who shoved a bone up your a-”

Papyrus grabbed Sans in a choke hold while Frisk giggled. 

“Sans you hooligan you will  _ not _ make a habit of swearing in front of our guest!” Papyrus threatened. “One more offense and you’ll be getting nothing but vegetables for dinner for a week!”

Sans succeeded in shoving his brother off with a huff. “Bro… you wouldn’t…”

Papyrus ignored the human’s laughter while he shoved a finger in Sans’s face. “I  _ will _ and you know it. No more swearing!” 

Sans glared at him for a moment before he sighed and heaved himself to his feet. “Fine, fine, no more swearin’ around the kid. Ya got me good.”

Papyrus nodded. “Good. Now get going, you’re going to be late to work.”

Sans  _ pssh’d _ his brother, but grabbed his mug and headed to the door regardless. “Yeah yeah, I’m goin. Don’t destroy the house while I’m gone.”

“We won’t!” Papyrus called while Sans tugged on his coat and left.

Frisk had a smile on their face while they watched. Papyrus regarded them warmly for a moment before ruffling their hair.

“Alright, human! First things first, let's get this mop under control,” Papyrus said. Frisk nodded happily.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wowo its been a whlie, i'm really sorry for that- things got a bit rough there and i'm in the process of starting back up with the whole therapy/medicine thing, so hopefully things get better and i can pick writing back up and stop being a sorry sack who sleeps for 35 hours a day
> 
> sorry its short, i've already started the next one so hopefully it'll be up soon. also, disclaimer, i don't know anything about sign language and this'll be the only chapter i write about it explicitly- i don't want to make it the main focus, since i don't know anything about it and would probably just make a big fool of myself, but if i did something wrong here feel free to tell me what it is and how to fix it

“So then I told Undyne, of course I don’t have the guts to be in the Royal Guard, I don’t have any guts at all!” Papyrus recounted as he took great care in brushing out the human’s hair long past what it probably needed. It was so interesting- he’d never touched hair before!

Frisk’s shoulders shook at his silly joke.

“Of course, I realized immediately that I’d said something completely counter-intuitive to my plight, but, she laughed at least! And she let me in a few months later, so no harm done, really.”

Frisk nodded along, sitting on the couch, facing the back while Papyrus stood and brushed their hair a little longer. He'd forgone his armor for the day, since he probably wouldn't be leaving the house, and was instead wearing a painfully plain shirt and sweatpants. He hummed to himself as Frisk picked up the pad of paper and pencil they’d been using.

After a few moments, they held it over their shoulder for him to see.

_ “Is Sans in the Guard too?” _

“Oh no, Sans is just a sentry. We’re both sentries, actually, but now I’m also a guard.” Papyrus clacked his teeth for a moment. “Although, to be honest, it’s mostly the same. I just get paid a little more.”

Frisk took a second to write something else.

_ “What do sentries look out for?” _

“Well, humans, for one,” Papyrus said. He’d taken off his gloves when he’d volunteered to brush Frisk’s hair, so he ran a curious hand through it. It was very soft- he wished he had hair.

Frisk reached around and tapped him to jolt him from his hair-envy.

“Oh! Oh yes, sorry human, hair is somewhat of a novelty to me. I’m afraid I don’t have any myself, and neither does Sans… what did you ask, again?”

They held up the paper again.

“Sentries, of course. We’re supposed to keep an eye out for humans, but because they fall down here so rarely, we mainly serve the King. The Underground isn’t an overly friendly place, so sentries look out for suspicious activity and keep the puzzles outside of town nice and ready for when a human would happen to come. The Guard, then, is the next level- we mainly deal with petty squabbles and carry out the King’s wishes. And when humans do fall, it is our sworn duty to take them to… the King…” Papyrus trailed off. Frisk looked back at him, a bit of worry on their face, before Papyrus set the comb down and took a heavy seat beside them on the couch. 

“Technically,” Papyrus said, putting a lot of emphasis on the word, “ we’re not supposed to be helping you. We are to report any fallen humans to the King, and take them there if we can. But… ah, the King, he is not… very kind. To the humans he manages to obtain. He’s actually known to, well…” Papyrus looked at Frisk for a moment, a hint of fear in their eyes, and he gulped. 

“... He kills them. As legend says, with seven human souls he will be able to break the barrier and free us, so he’s been collecting them. I’m not sure how many he has, but… that’s the point of the Royal Guard.”

Frisk looked up at the skeleton for another moment before writing something else. Papyrus waited in uncomfortable silence until they held it up, strokes a little shaky.

_ “Are you going to take me to him?” _

“No! No no, of course I won’t!” Papyrus said immediately, reaching over and grabbing Frisk’s shoulder. “I m-mean... I was! I definitely was going to do that at first, but, that was before… well, before I knew you. So no! The answer is a firm, definite no. You can stay here with my brother and I.”

Frisk was already writing something before he’d finished. Papyrus took his hand from their shoulder and waited, but thankfully the human didn’t seem too upset. The skeleton might have been the more frazzled of the two.

_ “Will you get in trouble?” _

Papyrus frowned. “I… suppose there is a chance Undyne could find out, but we’ll minimize that chance as best we can.” He put his hand on the human’s head. “You don’t have anything to worry about, human. I’ll look after you.”

Frisk looked at up at him with a questioning stare before going back to their notepad.

_ “Why?” _

Papyrus read it and immediately blushed. Why, indeed. He rubbed the side of his skull for a moment before he could even bring himself to speak.

“Well… I… for one, I think you’re very nice, human, and I wouldn’t want to see you get hurt.” Papyrus paused and looked over at them. They were very soft and fragile-looking. No fur, no armor, no spikes- all flesh and kindness. They’d never last down here. 

Papyrus sighed. “And… I guess… down here it’s a very mean place. But.. I don’t think it has to be!” he said, maybe a little too loudly. “My brother chose to protect me when I was a baby, he was kind, even if it didn’t benefit him… so now I’m going to do the same for you.” Papyrus glanced down to see the child’s eyes sparkle, and he immediately got even more flustered. 

“Does that make sense, at least?”

Frisk nodded. Papyrus opened his mouth to continue, maybe say something to divert all of the strange tension in the room, but before he could Frisk leaned against his side and wrapped their little arms around his torso. He jumped a little at the contact. The human hugged him a little tighter, and he couldn’t help but to reach down and wrap his arms around them in return.

“You hug like my brother… very soft and squishy,” Papyrus said, and Frisk snorted as their shoulders shook a little at the awful comparison. Papyrus pulled them away and gave them a toothy grin.

“Are all humans so sentimental? Even Sans is less emotional than this…”

Frisk blushed a little and tried to tuck a piece of hair behind their ear, only for it to fall back immediately. It looked like they were about to sign something, but then they visibly remembered Papyrus wouldn’t understand and they brought their hands down again.

Papyrus stood, gently pulling the human with him, mindful of their injury. “Well, the day is young, and I have a lot of an entire language to learn. We should get started, human.”

Frisk reached back to grab their pencil and paper and nodded. They scrawled something down and shoved it up as far as their little arms could reach.

_ “Thank you.” _

Papyrus felt his soul swell with warmth. The human was going to kill him- they were too sweet.

  
  


Papyrus texted his brother and asked if he could pick up the sign language books from the library, but in the meantime he just used Frisk as a wealth of knowledge. They taught him basic things- hello, goodbye, yes, no, thank you, things of that nature. Papyrus always prided himself on being a quick learner, but… it might take a few go-arounds for the lessons to really stick. Frisk was nothing but patient, their soft baby cheeks always dimpled from their smile.

Frisk made two fangs with either hand and crossed them over eachother, dragging them down from their neck to their torso. Papyrus watched closely as they did it again before he tried to repeat it himself.

“And this means…?”

Frisk went to their notepad, which was quickly becoming filled. 

_ “Skeleton.” _

“Ah! Okay, so it was…” Papyrus clacked his fangs in concentration and repeated the sign. Frisk gave him a thumbs up and he practically beamed.

“This won’t be so hard! What about ‘human’, human?”

Frisk mouthed what appeared to be ‘human’ while they took both hands and used four fingers, held vertically, to touch above their chest, and then their belly. Papyrus repeated it, and Frisk smiled.

Papyrus sucked in a breath to commend himself and his new teacher, but before he could he heard a strange little rumble from the human. Frisk’s eyes went wide for a moment before they blushed. 

“Are you hungry, human?” he asked, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone. His eyes went wide. “Well of course you’d be! It’s past noon!” Before Frisk could protest, he scooped them up from their seat at the table, giving them just enough time to snatch their writing materials before he hurried in and set them on the counter. They looked a bit taken aback, so they went to their notepad and began writing again.

Papyrus was too busy looking around for something to make. How could he have forgotten lunch- after breakfast, it was the most important meal of the day! He was debating between pancakes and leftover lasagna when the human caught his sleeve and made him pause.

“What is it, human?”

They held up what they’d written for him to see. 

_ “You don’t have to. I’m fine with just two a day.” _

Papyrus stared at the page for a moment longer than it took him to read it. He looked up at the human, maybe letting his emotions through a little too wildly, because they shrunk away from his glare.

Not getting enough food was no surprise in the underground. Papyrus remembered when he’d been young- when Sans had barely been able to scrape together enough for him to have  _ one _ meal a day, let alone three, and double let alone enough for himself. But the humans above had so much food! They had sunlight to grow things and enough space for millions of people- there was no excuse for the human to not eat enough. But Papyrus quelled his inherent anger, because the human looked worried they’d done something wrong, and he didn’t want them to think that.

Papyrus took a deep breath and composed himself. He put his hand on the human’s head, nearly engulfing it because of how small they were.

“Nonsense, human. There’s no need to be modest- you’re young, and growing kids need their nutrition!”

Frisk kept their eyes down while they reached up and grabbed his hand, hugging it against their chest for a moment. Papyrus smiled as they reached for their notepad once more.

_ “Are you sure?” _

“Of course I’m sure.” He ruffled their newly-brushed hair and turned back to the many cabinets he’d thrown open in his haste. “Now then… what to make…” He tapped his jaw in thought for a moment. “What would you like, human?”

He looked over his shoulder to see Frisk sign something. The left their left palm out flat and with their right sort of... mimed they were opening a jar or something. Papyrus scrunched his face while the human just giggled and took to the paper.

_ “Cookies.” _

Papyrus was halfway through repeating the sign, trying to cement it into his memory, when he read what the suggestion was and guffawed.

“Cookies?!”

Frisk continued to giggle while Papyrus scoffed again. Their laugh was raspy and a little strange, but the noise was quickly growing on the skeleton. He jutted his hip out to rest his hand on it while he thought.

“Well… I suppose this is your first lunch here… cookies would be an adequate celebratory meal…”

He glanced at Frisk to see the human looking up at him like he’d given them a million pieces of gold, not agreed to make cookies.

He waved his hands. “But we can’t make a habit of this! Cookies are  _ not _ supposed to be a meal, human.”

Frisk nodded in rapt agreement.

“What kind of cookies?”

Frisk shrugged. After a moment of writing, they held up their notepad.

_ “Doesn’t matter.” _

“Chocolate chip?”

Frisk beamed and signed  _ “yes.” _


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow its been like three months, sorry about that- gettin back on meds and going back to therapy and stuff took a whole lot of my energy (aka all of it) but i'm feeling a whole lot better now so hopefully i can get back to writing. more fell fluff! sans will be in the next chapters, it won't be all frisk and papyrus

 

The cookies came out flat, but Frisk didn’t seem to mind in the least. Papyrus nibbled on one as he watched the human devour them whole, looking happier than he’d seem them look since they’d arrived. They were sitting at the table with the plate between them, and after he watched them chomp down on their tenth cookie he drew the plate towards himself. 

“There won’t be any left for Sans if you keep going at this rate, human!”

Frisk looked at him. Oh, there they were- just like Sans gave him sometimes, those big puppy-dog eyes. He tried so very hard to scowl and keep his demeanor, but it broke and he handed them another.

“Fine. Just one more. You’re going to end up as round as Sans if you keep up these eating habits.”

Frisk smiled while they ate. They put a hand on their stomach when they were done. Papyrus absentmindedly leaned over and brushed the cookie crumbs off of their face like he would with Sans. 

Frisk continued to idly smile up at him before they went for their notepad.

_ “I like his tummy. He looks soft.” _

“He’s very squishy, yes,” Papyrus agreed. “About as big as they come, I’d say. If he got much fatter I’m afraid he’d burst.”

Frisk nodded and took to doodling in their notepad. Papyrus leaned back in his chair and listened to the sound of their pencil on the paper and the other quiet noises of the house. It was nice- a little after noon, everything was peaceful, the smell of still-warm cookies wafting through the house. 

 

He didn’t remember closing his eyes until he felt a little fleshy finger poking his ribs. He snorted and jerked awake, fists up and at the ready.

Frisk hunched in their chair, smiling but apologetic. Papyrus rubbed his eyes and looked down.

“You surprised me, human… what do you need?”

They scrabbled for their notepad and held it up for Papyrus to take. He accepted it and brought it closer to his face so he could see.

It was a crude little drawing of himself, standing with massively spiky pauldrons and enormous boots, with Frisk nearby. By any artistic standard it would be god awful, but he felt his cheeks warm either way.

“Is this supposed to be us?”

Frisk nodded. Papyrus looked around to see a few other pages littering the table. How long had he been napping?

Frisk nudged his arm as they took the notepad back and flipped the page. Papyrus had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing.

Sans was little more than a ball with stubby legs and a smiling face. Next to him the human had written “he didn’t fit” which just made Papyrus burst into a new fit of horribly contained laughter.

“Human! This is- it’s- well it’s accurate-” Papyrus broke off to try and take a deep breath, but that smiling face kept throwing him off. He ducked his head and handed the notepad back, hoping that if the drawing was out of sight it would also be out of mind.

“They’re perfect, Frisk- I didn’t know you drew,” Papyrus said, trying to change the topic and compose himself. Frisk took a moment to write something.

_ “It’s fun. You were asleep for a while.” _

Papyrus grimaced. “How long?”

_ “A couple hours.” _

“You should have woken me!” he exclaimed, picking up another drawing of a little flower with a face. “I’m sorry for falling asleep on you- I don’t nap often… I think it was the cookies.”

Frisk shook their head. A moment passed as they wrote.

_ “It’s fine. Drawing is fun.” _

Papyrus clacked his teeth together for a moment before he looked at the clock. “Next time, wake me up… and don’t tell Sans, he’ll pick on me for  _ days _ if he finds out I was napping.”

Frisk resolutely nodded.

“He should be home soon… maybe we could watch a movie? I’ve got lots of movies- old human ones, full of blood and gore and thrills. It’s the stuff of legend!” Papyrus went on. Frisk nodded along happily. A moment on their notepad.

_ “Do you want to draw with me?” _

Papyrus blushed but couldn’t contain his smile. “Of course, that sounds like a fine way to pass the time.” He stood and went to the kitchen to rifle through the drawers, digging out another pencil. When he returned, Frisk looked excited enough to burst. They tore him a few pages out of their notepad before the child began scribbling away.

They turned it into a sign language lesson as well as a fun drawing lesson. Papyrus drew random household objects he could spy from his chair, Frisk would teach him the sign for it, and then they’d draw it as well. 

Papyrus drew a picture of the human while they went and snatched another cookie. He didn’t mind- there was still over a dozen for Sans. He stuck his tongue out as he concentrated on his drawing, making sure to get their hair right, and the little bandaid he’d stuck on their face the day before, and their oversized clothes. Papyrus had forgotten how much he liked drawing. With his ambitions to move up within the ranks of the Guard, he hardly had time for it anymore.

Frisk eventually came back, cookie crumbs littering their t shirt and face, a glass of milk in their hands. They carried it with great care, setting it down gently before hopping up on their chair again and peeking over at what Papyrus was drawing.

The skeleton was concentrated on his work, but it was broken as the human ever so gently thumped his shoulder and held their notepad up.

_ “That’s so good!” _

Papyrus blushed. “Ah- well- of course it does! I’m a great artist… I think I messed up the eyes, though.”

Frisk shook their head profusely and scribbled.

_ “They’re perfect, you’re really good at drawing.” _

Papyrus felt his soul swell. “Thank you, human. For your age, you’re very good as well!”

Frisk beamed. It fell away for a moment and they went back to their notepad.

_ “Nobody has ever wanted to draw with me before.” _

Papyrus really couldn’t help it. He got up from his chair and knelt beside the human child, low enough that he could pull them into a hug. They seemed surprised for a moment, but then two little arms were wrapped tightly around him and their head was nuzzling his ribcage.

“Well, I know I’d be happy to draw with you anytime I’m not busy. I’m sure Sans would enjoy that, too. We could all three draw together sometime.”

Frisk nodded into his chest.

Papyrus wouldn’t normally allow it, he’d always wipe the look from his face as soon as he felt it coming on, but it was just the two of them. The human had already seen through his facade of being big and mean and tough. He smiled softly down at them and patted their head.


End file.
